The room was so silent, you could hear a pin drop. Making it so that each small kiss plucked the quiet like an arrow. The way it felt to Ryan, he would've guessed those shots came from Cupid's bow. His back pressed against the wall behind the bar as Ricky sucked on his neck. The smaller's hands rested on his hips to keep him in place.

His slow breathing hitched in his throat upon hearing noises on the stairs. The frantic movements of steps caused him to push Ricky back. Ricky stared into his ghostly eyes blankly, then turned to hear the floorboards behind him squeak. It wasn't like they were trying to hide their relationship. There was no denying they were madly in love and they weren't affraid to tell anyone. The two tried to maintain respect for the others. It was an unwritten rule of the inn that you don't fuck in common space.

Vinny jumped over the last two steps and rushed over to the counter. He put his hands out in front of him to stop himself from crashing into the edge of the bar top. His breaths were uneven and he looked absolutely petrified. His words came out a jumbled mess, "The, uh- fu- the girl... Sh-he... Her... Her necklace-"

"Calm down." Ricky spoke in the most tranquil voice he could muster, "Deep breaths."

Chris strode down with anger built in his stance. His recent expression of annoyance and tiredness had changed to rage. In his hand he clutched the most important of Kuza's possessions. This discovery had taken him well past animosity towards their new guests. He threw the string of marbles onto the counter.

"I found this in Kuza's possessions." He lowly said.

Vinny, who had previously only seen one glass orb hanging from Ghost's neck, became aghast at the sight of thirteen. His throat became thick but he still managed to whisper an explanation for his panic, "The girl has one on her necklace."

Chris cast down his voice, disconcerting any wandering thoughts the others could've mustered, "This is why I don't like outsiders. You can't trust anyone outside of these walls."

"We don't know that this... That it's what it looks like." Ricky attempted to ration. His tone was so unconvincing, it was hard to believe he even thought there could be a better possibility.

"And what exactly do you think it could be?" Chris snapped.

"I... I don't know! Maybe he pulled it off of a hunter or, just-" He sighed, "I don't know."

Ryan set his hand on Ricky's shoulder. He looked up at his mate with hope slowly dying in his face. His miracle was starting to look like it could be a curse. The world was full of possibilities but with every wind that blew against this old house, they became slimmer. It was true that nearly everyone who's sought out shelter here had a different agenda.

"I just... I just wanted to make things right between us." Ricky murmured. There was a pain in his chest, one that no amount of backtracking could fix.

"So you figured if you did the one thing that fucked us up before a second time, it would magically fix things?" He sneered, "Did you fucking forget what happened last time we allowed strangers in our home?"

His eyes became glassy and he trembled out, "I'm sorry, Chris! I- I never meant for... I didn't know. I-" Ricky choked on his tears, shutting his eyes tight.

Ryan glared at Chris as he pulled his love into his arms. "Trust me, he hasn't forgot. It keeps him up at night constantly because you continue to make him think it was his fault. He wasn't the only one to blame for what happened."

He scoffed in disbelief, "Don't you ever fucking blame that on me."

Josh stopped himself at the end of the stairs. The yelling had drawn him from his room. He set his hand on the end of the banister, clearing his throat to catch everyone's attention. "Is everything alright down here?"

"No, it's not." Chris seethed, "Once again, Ricky has opened our home to fucking traitors."

"Actually, I was the one that let them stay here. Ricky just showed them to their rooms because I asked him too. If you want to blame someone, blame me." Josh responded, "What did they do anyways?"

He opened his mouth to reply but his eyes darted up to the top of the stairs. Kuza rushed down, preparing himself for a fight. He had hoped this place would be different but they're all the same. It had been so long since he had to raise his fist or his voice. He wasn't looking forward to discontinuing that streak.

"Where is it?!" He sneered.

Chris raised his eyebrow, floored by how forward he was being. In his mind, he assumed someone just busted for a horrendous act wouldn't be so bold. He picked up the string of glass charms, dangling it was one hand, "Looking for this?"

"Yes." Kuza sighed out of relief, "Look, at this point, I don't even care that you went through my shit and took it. Just please, give it back to me."

"You're pathetic." He scoffed.

"Excuse me?"

"You're pathetic." He effortlessly repeated, "Your most valued item is a string of hunting trophies." Chris raveled the chain up in his fists and glared at the item in his hand with contempt. He was revolted by what it represented. His anger, unfortunately, had clouded his vision too much. He pulled his arm back and violently threw it at the farthest wall.

Kuza felt his stomach drop. The chain broke and the marbles flew everywhere. He was utterly terrified they'd break the second they hit the ground. They were resilient but they had seen a lot of wear. He lost any care in fighting with Chris or correcting him. Instead, he fell to his knees as he began to look for the thirteen glass eyes now scattered across the ground. His fear of losing even one caused tears to rush to his own eyes, making it even more difficult to find them on this dark floor.

"You're disgusting. You betrayed your own kind! It's not enough for you that we're all dying from disease and loneliness?!" Chris shouted at him. One of the marbles had rolled just next to his foot. Kuza looked up, realizing it was easily the most valuable of any of them. It's blue color meant more to Ghost than it ever would to him. Chris looked down to the gem on the floor. His misguided thoughts led him to do something so cruel, but he didn't understand the depths of it.

"No, please!" Kuza begged him, "Please! No!" He screamed when Chris crushed it like the ice it resembled. The tears began to rush down his face even faster and he whimpered, "I never betrayed anyone. I... I never killed them... I-I tried to save them."

Josh saw one of the black marbles that had stopped near the staircase. He gently picked it up and carefully walked across to Kuza. "Here." He opened his palm, offering it to him.

"Why are you helping him?" Chris snapped.

Josh held his composure amazingly as he glanced over his shoulder at him. He stood up, turning to face Chris. "Those are not the tears of a liar. The rest of us are going to talk to him about this, but I think you've done enough damage for one night."

"Go to bed. Hopefully you'll wake up with a little more clarity." Ryan replied.

Though Vinny didn't say a word, it didn't matter. It was already obvious where Ricky stood on the matter and the other two had followed his lead. Chris knew a three against one fight was not worth his energy. He grit his teeth and walked with clenched fists upstairs. Vinny wasn't exactly on board with trusting Kuza or Ghost but he wasn't as angered as Chris was. He didn't want to be involved in the serious talk about to come. Respectfully, he excused himself to go finish cleaning his room.

Ryan very gently placed a kiss on Ricky's forehead. He reluctantly pulled away from him to help Kuza. Ricky was still very shaken up but he worked through it. With his trembling hands, he searched through the cabinets before he found what he was looking for. He handed a small black silk bag to Ryan.

"Sit down, Baby. You need a break." He told him lovingly.

Ricky wasn't going to argue. He carefully stepped across the floor until he reached one of the tables. As he pulled back the chair, he spotted another of the black ones beside it. He picked it up and handed it to Josh. Ryan knelt down in front of Kuza, offering him the silk bag.

"Thank you." He murmured.

"I'm sorry for what Chris did." Ryan glanced back at the shattered glass behind him, "Do you want me to save the pieces of the broken one?"

"Yes, please. Even if it's broken, Ghost will still want it." Kuza replied.

He headed back behind the bar to find something he could set it in. There was a small crystal candy dish that would suffice. "Vinny told us she had one on a necklace around her neck. Is that the match to the one Chris broke?"

"Yeah." He swallowed a lump in his throat, "They belonged to her brother. Her and I, we used to live in a group, like you guys do now. Her brother was the last one to die. After he did, that's when we came looking for this place. We thought, maybe, you all wouldn't be falling apart like we were."

"We used to be fine. It's my fault we're not anymore." Ricky muttered.

"Don't say that. You know it's not true." Ryan said.

"Yes, it is." He whispered to himself.

Josh sighed, handing the last lost marble to Kuza. "We lost one of our own a few months ago. A hunter asked for shelter but he was only looking to harvest us for our eyes. He only took one of us, but if Chris and Vinny don't find mates soon, we're going to lose them too."

"I am not a hunter." Kuza genuinely spoke as he stood up. "I took their eyes when they died so hunters wouldn't. They say our memories get trapped in our eyes when we die. Just in case that was true, I couldn't let anyone take them."

"You have enough for seven creatures. Did you really lose that man?" He asked.

"Yeah. I can tell you every one of their names, their life stories, and the way they died. A hunter or a scavenger wouldn't know that." He said.

Josh pulled a chair out from the table and gestured towards it, "Take a seat and start from the beginning."